Venom & Vitae: A Complete Guide to Poisons for D&D 5e and 5.5e

By Steven Chabotte

Poison should not feel like a minor damage bonus.

It should feel risky. Controlled. Illegal in some places. Watched in others.

In many campaigns, poison is little more than a saving throw. Venom & Vitae changes that. This book treats poison as a craft with weight and consequence. Harvesting is dangerous. Crafting is unstable. Using poison can draw attention from guilds, temples, rulers, and rivals.

Inside you will find:

- Rules for harvesting toxic plants and monster venoms
- Clear crafting systems with meaningful failure results
- Delivery categories that change how poison behaves
- Mishap tables that create complications instead of dead ends
- Legal structures, guild oversight, and black market networks
- Legendary poisons presented as narrative dossiers
- Quick reference tools for Game Masters

The mechanics are designed for both 5e and 5.5e play and are built to drop cleanly into an ongoing campaign.

This is not a catalog of simple damage boosts. It is a framework for making poison rare, dangerous, and worth respecting again.

If your campaign includes assassins, political tension, underground trade, or morally complicated choices, this book gives you the structure to support it without slowing the table down.

Poison should matter.

Now it does.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GVY2Q18H
• ISBN13: 9798248636983
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.5" x 11.0"